To carry out such a strategy, companies must gain an understanding of the customer’s journey -- from the expectations they have before the experience occurs to the assessments they are likely to make when it’s over. Using that knowledge, companies can orchestrate an integrated series of “clues” that collectively meet or exceed people’s emotional needs and expectations. The internalized meaning and value the clues take on can create a deepseated preference for a particular experience -- and thus for one company’s product or service over another’s.